Testimony of Champion Isak Gaši: My Journey to The Hague

BRČKO/THE HAGUE, (Patria) - Isak Gaši and Sahaun Koos have signed an exceptional book: "Eyewitness - My Journey to The Hague". The publisher of the book is the renowned American "Brandylane", headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, USA.

Isak Gaši was one of the most powerful witnesses to the crimes committed against Bosniaks and other non-Serbs in Brčko, his hometown. A former kayaking champion, beloved by his colleagues and fellow citizens for his exceptional nobility, he suddenly found himself in mortal danger at the start of the war.

He was thrown into Luka, a camp of death and horror. Gaši spent three weeks in this chamber for torture and murder of human beings, witnessed horrors, and was then placed on the "blacklist", designated for liquidation. Only a miracle saved him from death. After his release, he spent the following decades drawing people's attention to the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Serbian army, testifying at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Gaši precisely recalls the brutal events, what he endured. His good nature and the fact that he never even considered that there could be any evil between people made Isak Gaši such a good witness. The cold, journalistic tone makes for a powerful story: "Looking... at the hotel parking lot, I saw a container. It was overflowing with bodies. Three more bodies lay on the asphalt next to the container."

Gaši's confession is full of testimonies that even the staff of the Hague Tribunal were shocked by. The book is one of the best-written accounts of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the horrors of death camps.

Renowned American professor David Pettigrew says: "Eyewitness, My Journey to The Hague" is a work of courage, pure and simple. It is a heroic testament of our time that will survive and speak the truth about the genocide, crimes against humanity, and other war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and other non-Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995."

Professor Pettigrew highlights Isak Gaši's heroic persistence in testifying about the committed crimes.

"Isak Gaši did not want to allow the victims to be forgotten and, like many of his generation, he kept his heart open to the hope of telling the truth about war crimes, which should lead to justice. However, Isak Gaši was one of the few who had the opportunity to give decisive testimony in the trials of Krajišnik, Karadžić, Milošević, Šešelj... before the Tribunal in The Hague," writes Professor Pettigrew.

Professor Adam Moore wrote: "This powerful personal story, from an exceptional individual, who survived imprisonment and torture during the Bosnian War of the nineties and then became one of the most important prosecution witnesses against Serbian war criminals before the Tribunal in The Hague, deserves to be widely read.

"The story of Isak Gaši is simultaneously terribly ordinary and incredibly extraordinary," wrote Danish professor Cristian Nielsen.

Simply put, Isak Gaši's book of testimony reads in one sitting. It is written with supreme clarity and leaves the reader without any doubts.

"This story of justice, forgiveness, and truth will be read for many years to come," states the presentation of this exceptional work by Isak Gaši.